The Front Cover of My First Novel!

It has long been an ambition of mine to write a novel. I have started two in the past but got no further than the first few chapters. I never had a clear idea of what I was writing about and the structure was poor.
 I did manage to write a complete screenplay. It was called 'You're Dead'. The story of a young boy who along with the help of his sister fakes his own death. People love you more when your dead. The scenario is so convincing that in the end he is faced with the dilemma of whether he can actually come back or will he have to die for real...

I managed to get people who wanted to turn it into a movie but unfortunately they never managed to raise the funds to make it. You need a shed load of moola to make a film.
So why not have a crack at a novel? Books are much cheaper and if no-one wants to print it for you, you can always self-publish, stick it on amazon, force all your friends and family to buy it, make them write rave reviews and voila! before you know it you've got a bestseller (it really is that easy, isn't it?)
The photo above was taken at The Cannes Film Festival in 1962, where half of the novel is set.
I've only written the first paragraph but already have the cover. I call that forward planning.
There are three characters in that image. Can you guess which one is the protagonist? Here is a clue.